You've got (Heisman) mail

posted by LW, Thursday, November 19, 2009

As a Heisman voter the last five or six years, it's always been cool to get the letter from The Heisman Trophy Trust in mid-November.

There's something like 1,000 voters, and some past winners (cough, Gino Torretta, cough, cough) prove that the voters don't always select the most worthy player.

But it's still neat to read these words:

Dear Larry:

The Heisman Trophy trust is proud to present the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award for the 75th time this year. We are truly grateful for your support in selecting the most outstanding college football player in the United States for 2009.

It's much cooler than usual this year because I cover a player -- some guy named Spiller -- who's a legitimate candidate for the award.

If he's not a legitimate candidate in some voters' eyes, those voters shouldn't get any more letters.

Anyway, the deadline is 5 p.m. on Dec. 7. I'm really wondering how many people will wait until after the Dec. 5 games to cast their votes. That, of course, is the day of the conference title games. Could be quite a day with Spiller, Mark Ingram and Colt McCoy presumably making their final cases. And Tebow too ... I guess.

You know, I have a lot of respect for the Bowden family. They graciously opened up their beach home to a grubby reporter in the summer of 2005 as I tried to document a day in the life of the huge family as it vacationed at Panama City Beach.

Ann Bowden, wife of Bobby Bowden, sat down with me and gracefully talked about the absence of a grandson who had died in a car accident the previous September.

I've always been appreciative that they put their privacy on hold for someone they barely even knew.

All that said, you have to cringe when you read what Mama Bowden said in a USA Today article that chronicled the controversy surrounding Bobby's refusal to step down from the program he made great from scratch.

"His quarterback's going to be a senior next year, and (Bowden) wants to be there for his senior year. That's only right. And all those young kids are going to be a year older. ... He's planning on another year."

If FSU doesn't give it to him, she says, "You know, we don't need the university as much as they need us — as much as they need him and his connections and reputation and everything. If they want to pull that trick, we'll just shake the dirt off our feet and go to Europe or go on a long cruise or something.

"They'll have to fire him for him not to go another year … If they've got guts enough to do it, let them do it."

Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel says Ann is turning into Florida State's Marie Antoinette.

"Let them eat (Meineke Bowl) mufflers."


Also in Tallahassee, Mickey Andrews prepares for his last game at the Doak.

The Florida State administration and sports marketing staff has prepared a pregame tribute to Andrews that will take place about a half hour before the Seminoles and Terrapins square off Saturday.

"We will have the traditional introduction of our senior players," said Rob Wilson, Florida State's Director of Communications. "They'll go out and see Coach Bowden with their families. Then immediately following that will be the ceremony for Mickey and his family."

Wilson wouldn't go into great detail about the specifics of the on-field ceremony, other than to say people "should be in their seats by 11:30."

Initially the administration wanted to have the tribute done much closer to kickoff, but Andrews balked at that immediately.

"He didn't want it to affect his coaching duties at all," Wilson said. "He's coaching right up to the get-go. … I'm sure if he was the only one involved, if (his wife) Diane wasn't involved, he'd say, 'Y'all don't do a dadgum thing.' I'm sure he would."

At Boston College, a special Saturday for the Eagles' seniors. Those guys have been through a lot when you think about it.

Did you know ACC home teams are just 22-17 in conference play this year? Did you know Boston College is 29-4 at home since joining the ACC? One of those losses, of course, came to Clemson last year.

Heather Dinich presents her top three candidates for the Virginia job: Temple's Al Golden, Richmond's Mike London, and Liberty's Danny Rocco.

What's the common thread? All three of these guys coached under the guy Virginia is about to can. Don't know if I can see Craig Littlepage going in that direction.

Here'd be my top three candidates, if Littlepage were interested (yeah, right).







Jerry Ratcliffe of the Charlottesville paper has an interesting piece chronicling exactly how Al Groh's program eroded to this point.

Ratcliffe, by the way, is participating in this week's "Enemy Lines" segment. So stay tuned for that.

Mark Bradley of the AJC lists five reasons Paul Johnson won't bolt for Notre Dame.

Also in the AJC, a nice feature on Michael Palmer.

And another in The State.

The Black Coaches' Association gives Clemson a C in the hiring process that produced Dabo Swinney as the Tigers' football coach.

Yawn.

I'm guessing Terry Don Phillips feels pretty good that he didn't hire Mike Locksley, a guy who interviewed for the Clemson job before going on to become a certified train wreck at New Mexico.

Travis Sawchik of The Post and Courier becomes the first sportswriter to quote crisis management expert Jon Bernstein.

The touchdown drive gave Florida State a 24-21 lead. Trotting off the field, Clemson defenders passed blame and pointed fingers. They had lost discipline and composure. The score rekindled nightmares of Matt Ryan's efforts at Death Valley two years earlier, taking a division title from the Tigers.

Seeing the body language, Swinney huddled the entire defense.

'I said, ‘Listen guys, we've taken their best shot and it's a three-point game,' ' said Swinney, who turns 40 Friday. ' ‘Let's settle down and in the fourth quarter we'll win it. We are the better football team.' They just believed it. I said, ‘Don't worry about the scoreboard. Don't get caught up in all that other stuff. … I've seen too many things in my life. Battle. Don't quit.' '

For the next 20 minutes, Clemson shut out Florida State en route to a 40-24 victory.

The huddle is the sort of real-time response crisis management expert Jon Bernstein — a five-year veteran of U.S. Military Intelligence covert operations — says is critical in leadership.

'It's what the military calls situational awareness,' Bernstein said. 'It's an intuitive ability to stay calm when people are shooting at you. That's not something you can train. That's why leaders of teams need to be people that have that innate ability.'

In the Greenville News, Jacoby Ford looks back on his career.

In the Independent-Mail, more on the Tigers' seniors.

At Southern Pigskin, Marc Hudgens examines how Mickey Andrews' situation could affect Bud Foster's career path.

Street & Smith's Sports Business Daily ranks the most valuable college football teams.

Pop quiz: Which conference is not represented on the list?


LW

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